Kant: A Biography

by Manfred Kuehn

Overview

This is the first full-length biography in more than fifty years of Immanuel Kant, one of the giants amongst the pantheon of Western philosophers as well as the one with the most powerful and broad influence on contemporary philosophy. It is well known that Kant spent his entire life in an isolated part of Prussia living the life of a typical university professor. This has given rise to the view that Kant was a pure thinker with no life of his own, or at least none worth considering seriously. In this biography, Manfred Kuehn debunks that myth once and for all. Taking account of the most recent scholarship Professor Kuehn allows the reader (whether interested in philosophy, history, politics, German culture, or religion) to follow the same journey that Kant himself took in emerging as a central figure in modern philosophy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781316023655
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	03/19/2001
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	3 MB

Table of Contents

Chronology of Kant's life and work; Prologue and epilogue, 'As You Like It'; 1. Childhood and early youth (1724–1740); 2. Student and private teacher (1740–1755); 3. The elegant magister (1755–1764); 4. Palingenesis and its consequences (1764–1769); 5. Silent years (1770–1780); 6. 'All-crushing' critic of metaphysics (1780–1784); 7. Founder of a metaphysics of morals (1784–1787); 8. Problems with religion and politics (1788–1795); 9. The old man (1796–1804); Bibliography.

Editorial Reviews

For opposite reasons, Kant's life (1724-1804) and ideas are equally difficult to expound engagingly: the ideas, because of their philosophical complexity; the life, because of its uneventful simplicity. Acknowledging as much in his prologue to this earnest biographical effort, Kuehn (of Philipps University in Germany) largely succeeds at this daunting, two-fold task. Nonspecialist readers in philosophy will be intrigued by the lesser-known works of Kant summarized here, such as Dreams of a Spirit-Seer, on the mystical theologian Emanuel Swedenborg, or, more relevant to our own copyright-obsessed times, "On the Injustice of Counterfeiting Books." Seasoned students of Kant will appreciate Kuehn's attention to the genesis of Kant's enormously influential critical philosophy in specific events and epiphanies of his life. Most notably, he explains how a foundational tenet of Kantian thought--that sensation and intellect are discontinuous (propounded in defiance of the then commonly received philosophy of Christian Wolff)--originates in a little-known Latin dissertation that Kant publicly defended in 1770, 11 years before the Critique of Pure Reason appeared. Or again, the categorical imperative, which defines Kantian ethics, owes in part, Kuehn suggests, to the influence on Kant of his long-time English friend, Joseph Green, who first lived the kind of principled life for which Kant then laid the theory. Kuehn's descriptions of Kant's richly inclusive social life, witty conversation and elegant dress will delight all who have wrongly identified the sage of K nigsberg with dour dispassion. The biography, however, suffers from repetition, digression and excessive attention to characters of only passing general interest. Still, as the first biography of the great philosopher in more than 50 years, this is a welcome addition to the literature. (Apr.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

This book bills itself as "the first full-length biography of Kant in over fifty years," but it is more than that. Other biographies are available, after all, including neo-Kantian Ernst Cassirer's classic Kant's Life and Thought. But these dated biographies were written without access to the most recent scholarship, and even the Cassirer book is more of an "intellectual biography," devoting more time to an analysis of the major works than to the minutiae of Kant's life. The present work excels in both regards: the explication of Kant's thought (for example, in the seminal Critique of Pure Reason) is exemplary, and the details of Kant's life, time, and influences is rendered so thoroughly that the reader will finish the book knowing Kant and his thinking intimately. (This is not to say that Kant's thought is not difficult: it is.) Keuhn (philosophy, Philipps Univ., Marburg, Germany) has produced a work of the highest quality. For all academic collections and larger public libraries.--Leon H. Brody, U.S. Office of Personnel Management Lib., Washington, DC Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

"Kuehn has written a solid biography.... The book reads well." The Complete Review

"This is an excellent book..." Review of Metaphysics

"In this first full-length biography in English, Manfred Kuehn's prodigious research dispels the idea of Kant as a colorless, and, by interveaving his life and thought, gives us a Kant we have never known before." Washington Post Book World

"This book bills itself as 'the first full-length biography of Kant in over fifty years,' but it is more than that... Kuehn has produced a work of the highest quality." Library Journal

"This book is ideally suited for a reader who already has some acquaintance with Kant's major ideas and wants a biographical, social and intellectual context in which to understand them more deeply. It is an impressive work with both historical and philosophical dimensions." Catholic Library World

"...an impressive work with both historical and philosophical dimensions." Catholic Library World

"This book bills itself as "the first full-length biography of Kant in over fifty years," but it is more than that... the present book excels...Kuehn has produced a work of the highest quality...For all academic collections and larger public libraries." Library Journal

"[An] excellent new biography. Manfred Kuehn's new book, with its scrupulous combination of archival accuracy and philosophical senstivity, therefore sets an entirely new standard, opening up fresh approaches not only to Kant's life but also to the meaning of his work. Kuehn's fine and rather touching biography reveals a philosophical life lived with pathos, courage, and good humor, as well as a terrible and merciless intelligence." Lingua Franca

"The best biography in English, and indeed in any language." J.B. Schneewind, author of The Invention of Autonomy

"The best biography of Kant now available." Philosophy in Review

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